Malik Mustapha scouting report: Exploring the Wake Forest safety's strengths and weaknesses

A zero-star recruit for Richmond in 2020, Malik Mustapha didn’t log any passes defensed in four games as a true freshman (17 tackles), but impressed Wake Forest enough to bring him over and immediately saw action with them.

Over his first two years there, Malik Mustapha combined for 95 tackles, ten of those for loss, two interceptions, five pass break-ups, three fumbles forced and two recovered. Then in 2023, he put up 80 total stops, five TFLs, two PBUs, one pick and fumbles forced. That made him a second-team All-ACC selection.

Profile: 5-foot-10, 210 pounds; RS JR.

Breaking down Malik Mustapha's scouting report

Run defense & blitzing:

• Rocked-up, functional frame to fulfill box duties while having spent plenty of time in the deep post
• Plays with the mindset of a linebacker, accelerating into lead-blockers and crashing into bodies on the move
• There are some plays where he starts from deep alignment and knifes through a lane to take down or at least force the back into a TFL
• You never really see Mustapha’s angles get burnt when he has to pursue out to the sideline
• When he ends up one-on-one with a quarterback pulling the ball and he’s the only man left working from split-safety looks, he reliably get those guys to the ground, if they don’t do so voluntarily, trying to avoid a big hit
• Earned the fifth-highest PFF run-defense grade among FBS safeties in this draft for 2023 (87.5), racking up 21 run stops
• Provides incredible pursuit when blitzed off the edge on run plays towards the opposite side and he’s also a ferocious rusher from depth to put quarterbacks on their backside
• There are some plays where he’s lined up on one hash and then ends up initiating first contact with the ball-carrier at the opposite numbers around the line of scrimmage on end-arounds

Zone coverage:

• For a man his size, the ability to cover ground as a deep middle safety stands out
• You see him make plays at the numbers on high-arcing passes and smack guys extending for the ball
• Was regularly deployed as a Tampa-2 middle dropper basically, but already starting from depth and patrolling the middle so to speak
• Excels at reading the quarterback’s eyes and closing in on throws in his vicinity from that role, as a robber or bumping down for shallow zone assignments
• Times up his jumps very well and had several last-moment knock-aways when receivers appeared to be open initially as the ball was released
• While he’s still very aggressive as a tackler, Mustapha has become a lot more effective now that he actually slings his arms around targets as he runs through them or wrestles them to the ground
• Improved his overall PFF grade each of the past three seasons (79.7 in 2023)

Man coverage:

• Capable of sorting out mesh concepts and other traffic and take care of his responsibility in man-/match-coverage
• When asked to get into press-alignments, he provides heavy hands to disrupt guys at the line of scrimmage, plus he continues to fight the arms and deny receivers stack-position on vertical patterns
• His ability to click-and-close on short-to-intermediate routes in off-man coverage against slot receivers really pops
• As soon as the hips of the guy in front of him tilt at all when he’s in man or match-quarters, Mustapha triggers
• Has the wheels to pick up and stick with crossing routes all the way to the opposite sideline
• Allowed just 15-of-29 passes his way to be completed for 175 yards and two touchdowns vs. one pick last season (316 coverage snaps)

Weaknesses:

• Can get his eyes trapped in the backfield a little bit too much and take off against eye-candy before the picture clears up
• His arms measured in at just over 30 inches and he didn’t test at the combine other than the bench press
• A lot better coming downhill than when receivers are pushing at him, as he looks far less comfortable when he ends up having to turn and run with them – gave up a few big plays in those isolated spots in 2022
• Not particularly clean in transitions having to backpedal and redirect out of it – that’s why also you see him side-shuffle when gaining depth a lot of times
• May be looked at as a primary box safety, which is where Malik Mustapha basically spent half of his snaps these past two seasons (586 of 1177), according to PFF – and that’s a far less prominent role in today’s game

Malik Mustapha's 2024 NFL Draft prospect

Malik Mustapha falls in the same category as a surprisingly high amount of safeties in this class are part of, where they’re best at attacking the line of scrimmage in the run game and his best role would be as plus one in the box.

Unfortunately, today’s defensive structures revolve so much around two-high looks, where those guys have to match slot receiver with 12+ yards of cushion in quasi-man-coverage regularly. And if he has to give ground at all, I think he’s much less effective countering the break.

With that being said, Malik Mustapha's identification of any leans or tempo changes to anticipate where the route may break is really good to make up for it, if he is allowed to drive from depth and then he arrives there with an attitude. He has more than adequate range to rotate into the deep half occasionally and cleanly he can step down and be involved in the run fit.

Having pumped out 22 reps on the bench press in Indy (most for any defender in the back-seven) also speaks to his commitment to the weight room, along with the clues you get of his work in the film room when watching the tape.

Grade: Late third round